The Brazos reached such low levels that the authority is operating on 90,000 acre-feet of water purchased from reservoirs owned by the Brazos River Authority, Langford said. An acre-foot is about 326,000 gallons, or roughly a year's supply for three to four households.

The purchased water will last about 180 days under current conditions, Langford said. The authority asked cities to declare stage-two drought alerts, with mixed results. Not all cities have complied with the water use restrictions and in Galveston, water usage increased despite the alert.

The drought also led Galveston County on Tuesday to issue a 90-day ban on outdoor burning.

In an effort to squeeze more water out of the river, the water authority is asserting a right that will force 1,145 farms, industries and municipalities higher up the river to limit or stop drawing water so that it will flow to Galveston County. Those who acquired water rights the earliest have seniority, and the water authority has rights acquired as early as 1926, Langford said. Asserting that right is known as a senior call.

Water users on the Brazos received notices Monday from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to limit water use, but it takes as long as two weeks for water to trickle down to Galveston County, Langford said.

Langford said there is no guarantee the water will arrive. Although compliance is mandatory, it's difficult to monitor, and compliance will be difficult for farmers and other users. "It's not a little pain," he said about the hardship the senior call might cause higher up the Brazos. "It's huge, it's big."

The pain is being felt by Brazoria County rice farmers like Chris Frank, who chipped in with other rice farmers in January to purchase 50,000 acre-feet of water through the Gulf Coast Water Authority for about $2 million.

The water authority won't deliver the remaining 22,000 acre-feet on the contract, making it impossible for farmers to harvest their second rice crop. "The second crop is where you make your money," Frank said.

A delegation of farmers Tuesday unsuccessfully begged the water authority board to reconsider its decision. "It's a tough decision," Langford said. "I have to chose between delivering to farmers or to cities and industry."

The water authority on Monday asked cities to issue a second-stage drought alert, involving mandatory limits on outdoor water use. Langford said water consumption spikes by about 17 million gallons a day in the summer, mostly because of outdoor use.

Compliance appears to be spotty. Galveston adopted its stage two alert June 25, but usage has increased since then, said David Van Riper, Galveston municipal utilities director. "We're using up our water reserves right now," Van Riper said.

The city is considering going to a stage three alert and asking police to cite scofflaws. Violators can be fined up to $2,000 per day and water service discontinued for three or more violations.

Harvey Rice worked at several other news organizations before joining the Houston Chronicle, including the Jackson Clarion-Ledger, the Mexico City News, El Financiero and UPI. While working for UPI, he was stationed in Mexico City; Washington, D.C.; Miami and London. After joining the Houston Chronicle in 1999, he covered Montgomery County and the federal courthouse in Houston before being assigned to the Galveston Bureau in 2007. He also was sent to Qatar to cover U.S. Central Command during the second Gulf War and was a member of the Enron investigative team.